iMovie ‘09
John August, screenwriter, blogger, and somebody I have great respect for, had this to say about the new iMovie,
“Among the products Apple announced today is iMovie 09, an update to their entry-level video editor that I currently find completely unusable. They have demo videos up showing some of the new features, which range from very helpful (stabilization) to fairly gimmicky (the animated maps).
What’s most clear, however, is that they’re sticking with the bizarre and unfortunate editing interface.”
I disagree. When I look at iMovie in its current state I don’t see a “bizarre and unfortunate editing interface.” I see the future of what digital editing could be.
If we’re talking about bizarre and unfortunate look no further than Final Cut Pro’s familiar, but relentlessly unchanged, UI. It’s a time capsule, showing off all the worst parts of digital editing. It’s clunky, chunky and crowded. It’s also extremely uninviting. If you sit a novice in front of Final Cut Pro and tell them to get to it, you’re going to get that same stunned silence usually reserved for grandparents and cell phones.
On the other hand, anybody can open iMovie and immediately see how skimming a clip initiates playback. Or how dragging a clip onto another will give you options after you’ve dropped it — not like that moment of what-just-happened panic that occurs after dragging a clip from FCP’s browser to the canvas for the first time.
iMovie ’09 brings with it an entirely visual process, and that’s exactly what editing should be. I’m excited, and hopeful, that these changes will be the basis for tools and features in future versions of Final Cut Pro.
Nice read. I haven’t been keeping up with all the iMovie talk because I’ve moved on to bigger and better things. The last iMovie, however, made me want to pull my eyes out.
Well, I guess you’re with John on this one, haha. It just seems like development on NLE systems is stagnant right now, and here comes iMovie ‘09 and it’s like the proverbial prom queen just walked in the room.
I can’t wait to try it myself.
After I sat down for about 2-3 hours and really tried to figure out how this new iMovie works I was able to put a video together. For me, I could put a simple clip together fairly easily, but anything beyond was a challenge to figure out. I actually liked the iMovie HD version of editing better.
Oh, best line ever:
“If you sit a novice in front of Final Cut Pro and tell them to get to it, you’re going to get that same stunned silence usually reserved for grandparents and cell phones.”